Stripes spotted?

Table View is the setting of a brand new animation, Madagascar 5: Escape from Du Noon.

In this movie, Marty the Zebra, was captured by animal poachers, held up in Du Noon before it finally escaped on Sunday evening.

Marty nearly got hit by a vehicle on the corner of Blaauwberg and Koeberg roads much to the surprise of the driver and a security guard.

Fortunately he side-stepped the car with a smooth clippety-clop evasive manoeuvre and took a right turn up Blaauwberg Road – towards Madagascar.

On his way there he noticed a pleasant looking vlei on his right and the absence of cars made it look pretty inviting.

What he’s up to now is a mystery, but it will all be revealed in Madagascar 6: One Too Many Zebra Crossings.

Table View Neighbourhood Watch (TVN), the local police, as well as the currently unknown driver and security guard, reckon the above is based on a true story.

There is therefore a real possibility that Marty is now chilling somewhere in Table View.

TVN chairperson, Ryno Roberts, elaborates: “We found it pretty amusing when we heard that there may be a zebra running around in Table View. Two witnesses saw it, but even though TVN and the police responded in full force, we could not find it.”

Spokesperson of Table View police, Lt Elizabeth Munro, tried hard to stop laughing when TygerBurger made an enquiry. She says they could only find the zebra stripes.

Munro says the possibility exists that it was a prank phone call, but she later admitted that there were quite a few witnesses to the outrageous tale.

Roberts first pitched the twist in the script that the zebra might have been side-tracked by the vlei next to Blaauwberg Road.

He continues: “Just a few weeks ago I heard that some farms near Durbanville have been targeted and robbed of their animals.

“It is perfectly possible that someone stole a zebra, took it to Du Noon and then it escaped down Koeberg Road in the direction of Table View.

The “incident” was reported on TVN’s Facebook page and there was quite a response.

It seems that everyone has a pun or two ready for this most unlikely of sightings.

One wrote: “On his way to Madagascar!”

Another wrote: “Ah, I wish I had known this! In the US a few months ago I was asked what the most dangerous animal I had ever seen in our street was.”

“All I could say was a tortoise, but a zebra would have been better.”

If anyone spots the “alleged” zebra they can contact Table View Police Station on 021 553 8233.

And when you go zebra-spotting, take your camera and send a photo to web@tygerburger.co.za.

***DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE AND PHOTO WERE PUBLISHED IN TYGERBURGER, A CAPE TOWN BASED MEDIA24 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER. NEITHER MAY BE DUPLICATED WITHOUT ACCREDITING THE SOURCE – TYGERBURGER, MEDIA24.***

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Roaming Matilda safe

The horses at Milnerton Riding Club were in for a smelly surprise last week when a striped relative decided to drop in and eat their feed and drink their water.

Just before the horses became really fed-up with the globetrotting zebra TygerBurger reported on last week (“Stripes Spotted”, it was immobilised and transported to Rustenburg Farm in Somerset West.

It was originally suspected by the Table View Neighbourhood Watch that the zebra might have escaped from Du Noon animal thieves, but it has since come to light that it became “bored with life” on a farm along the N7 and decided to explore the world beyond the fence.

It was also discovered that Marty is, in fact, a Matilda (for the lack of a better name).

One grain of truth in last week’s article is that Matilda became overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the “Big City”, and after it was nearly run over on the corner of Koeberg and Blaauwerg roads it fled into the Diep River vlei.

Koos Retief, biodiversity area manager for Milnerton, sums up the merry Matilda’s journey from there when he says: “She lived next to the river in the Diep River section of the Table Bay Nature Reserve for a few days. We first noticed her on the west side of the Killarney Race Track. She then came into the riding club after smelling horses and probably feeling lonely.”

A safe haven for Matilda was unpleasant for the horses, however.

The riding club’s yard manager, Audrey Hanson, elaborates: “The horses were very stressed out! They were off the food and ran around the whole place, clearly upset. Even in the stables, they were shaken and nervous, running around in circles. They didn’t like the smell of the animal.”

If Matilda had eyebrows she would have lifted one of them now.

Hanson continues: “The horses knew something’s there, but they didn’t know what it was! The zebra didn’t want to be away from the horses though. When the horses were taken to the stables at 15:00 she would run around and was probably thinking: ‘Where have my friends gone?’ In the morning it was quite funny, because she was running up and down and we’re thinking: ‘Ah! Dressage! That’s beautiful!’ In fact, the horses do beautiful dressage when they see the zebra – tails up and snorting, like ‘Look at me’!”

Hanson says she wishes they could keep the zebra. Matilda now feels loved and lowers her eyebrow (which she doesn’t have).

Hanson muses that the only horse who could stand the zebra was Turbo.

Matilda probably thought there were sparks between her and the stallion.

Turbo probably reckoned he could just about stand the smell without completely freaking out.

Retief concludes: “There are two types of zebras in South Africa. The berg zebra, an indigenous zebra to the Western Cape, and the plains zebra, which is from the Serengeti and the Lowveld. This one is a plains zebra.”

They immobilised and transported Matilda on Thursday afternoon.

Everything proceeded without a hitch, so it would be appropriate to end this fairytale saga with the words: “And she lived happily ever after.”

***DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE AND PHOTO WERE PUBLISHED IN TYGERBURGER, A CAPE TOWN BASED MEDIA24 COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER. NEITHER MAY BE DUPLICATED WITHOUT ACCREDITING THE SOURCE – TYGERBURGER, MEDIA24.***